It’s a well-worn story: the middle-aged man, running on empty, trades everything in for a second shot at life before it’s too late.

For men in particular, there is a glut of stereotypes of what mid-life is supposed to look and feel like. There’s the image of the much younger wife and faster sports car, for starters. But what lies beneath these caricatures - a newfound freedom or a struggle to cope? Just recently The Telegraph (UK) reported that middle-aged men are ‘least happy with life.’

Set against these social stereotypes and the cult of youth, The Middle Men reveals the emotional and physical worlds of eight middle-aged men living and working in England.

The Middle Men explores the concept of ‘middle age’ and how 8 men experience it. Each confronts life’s circumstances on their own terms. There is a recovery from addiction, the search for a new career, a commitment to marriage, a recently broken home, a new business venture, an episode of depression, a return to bachelorhood and a recently found peace which had always seemed elusive.